STAT3 and gastric cancer: The LIF/LIFR axis and JAK/STAT3 signalling pathway is over-regulated in several type of solid tumours, including PDAC (12), gastric cancer (GC) (13), hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (14), colon-rectal cancer (CRC) (15) and breast cancer (16), and promotes cancer cell proliferation, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) (17) and regulates aberrantly the self-renewal of cancer cell-initiating tumors (18), as well as promoting radio (19) and chemo-resistance (15).